The Stationmaster's Wife (1977)

Original title

Bolwieser

Directed by

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Genre

drama film

Country

Germany

Runtime

3h 21m

Rating

5.5 of 10 from 13 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A train station master in a small 1920s Bavarian town is unaware that his wife is having affairs with other men. The story follows his quiet life and the slow unraveling of their marriage.

cerebralslow-burnbleakunsettlingmelancholicclaustrophobictenseobservational

What happens

The Stationmaster's Wife (German: Bolwieser) is a 1977 German television serial directed and edited by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. It was made for German television and originally aired in 1973 as a two-part miniseries. It was based on the 1931 novel Bolwieser: The Novel of a Husband by Oskar Maria Graf. The plot revolves around railway station master Xaver Ferdinand Maria Bolwieser, who is unwittingly cuckolded by the town butcher and a hairdresser. Critic Vincent Canby, in his 1982 New York Times review, said the story, which is set in the fictional Bavarian town of Werburg in the 1920s, was reminiscent of Madame Bovary. The 1983 theatrical release was 90 minutes shorter than the 201 minute TV version. The theatrical cut had been finalized and approved in 1977, but the release was postponed due to legal and commercial reasons. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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